HAS it really come to this? The future of Scottish football placed in the hands of a few nonentities from the lower divisions.

HAS it really come to this? The future of Scottish football placed in the hands of a few nonentities from the lower divisions.

Muppets in charge of clubs that draw embarrassing crowds of 200 people suddenly standing as judge and jury over a decision that could cost the country millions of pounds in lost revenue.

Chairmen of part-time teams who are nothing more than afterthoughts in the psyche of our national obsession, yet suddenly they have been handed the most important decision in the history of Scottish football.

Does the SFL do the sensible thing and accept the Rangers newco into the First Division or cut off their nose to spite everyone else’s face by condemning them to starting again from the Third Division?

That they even have to think twice about this decision chills me to the core because it’s a clear sign that the knuckle-draggers – always the ones who make the most noise – have succeeded in making their voice heard.

And I’m not just talking about supporters, there are plenty of backward idiots in board rooms too and their petty witch hunt dressed up as “sporting integrity” could cost us all.

What price your integrity if there’s no sport left after you’ve slaughtered its biggest cash cow? Those opposing Rangers being parachuted into the First Division cannot see the wood for the trees.

I’ve heard comments from clubs like Cowdenbeath, Peterhead insisting they must start from scratch in the Third – who are these people and how are they qualified to make a decision that will affect clubs 10 times their size?

Let’s be honest here, if their clubs were to go missing nobody would bat an eyelid but if they abuse their newfound power to banish Rangers then the whole game is gone. It is THAT serious because without the revenue they generate through TV deals and travelling supporters, many other clubs will shut.

I know SFA chief executive Stewart Regan was criticised for warning that Scottish football faces a slow painful death if the Ibrox club are tossed to the bottom, but I agree. There is no point telling people everything’s hunky dory when it is clearly not.

People must wake up to Regan’s alarming message before it’s too late. Most of all the SPL because the time is now to take decisive action. You may have read Raith Rovers’ vice chairman Turnbull Hutton accusing the SPL of bullying and railroading the lower league clubs to vote Rangers into the First.

There’s long been veiled threats to set up a breakaway SPL 2, including Rangers, if the top flight don’t get what they want, leaving those who defy them well and truly out in the cold.

Well my feeling is why rely on a veiled threat when you can turn it into a concrete promise that can be used as a foundation to rebuild our game on a more stable platform?

Just do it, guys.

This is the time where SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster must stand strong and make the big decisions and grab the power back for the big clubs who know how to handle it.

Start the breakaway now, give us a fresh product of two top divisions with promotion and relegation play-offs and sell the package to Sky and ESPN as a fresh exciting new dawn for our game.

TV will buy into it, fans will be re-energised and hopefully start clicking through the turnstiles again.

Hey, maybe even the punters who blackmailed their clubs to vote Rangers out of the SPL in the first place might actually start attending games – because I don’t believe for a second that they were all loyal season ticket holders.

You just need to look at Dunfermline closing a stand last season and matches at Pittodrie resembling a closed-doors friendly any time the Old Firm weren’t visiting as evidence that these fans who protested so loudly must now put their money where mouths are.

So what of the rest you may ask. What about the clubs left behind by the new set-up?

No doubt some of them will fold while others continue plodding along as they are just now – part-time community clubs with very little relevance beyond the borders of their town. It might sound brutal but there are too many teams in our senior game who are going nowhere.

So better to trim the dead wood than give them the power to kill off one of the two clubs that matters most. In short, it’s better them than Rangers when it comes down to a stark choice of who should go.

I can almost hear the outraged screams from Forfar to Annan already but hard nosed as it sounds the alternative, which is football Armageddon, is too much for the rest of us to bear.

Maybe the Neanderthals who are only interested in revenge and petty points scoring after decades of Old Firm dominance will stop and think about the consequences before they call for more punishment.

The time has come to end this sorry episode and start fresh with a positive new beginning for all of Scottish football.

We can’t stand by and allow small clubs with their ridiculous tiny supports to gather on Friday the 13th and chase millions of pounds out of our game.

The time for action has come and Doncaster and his SPL member clubs cannot afford to hesitate a moment longer.

? I chuckled as those bailing out of Rangers talked about their heartbreak at leaving the club they loved.

I don’t have a problem with what the three Stevens – Whittaker, Davis and Naismith – have done, I’d be gone too.

But don’t play us for fools with the badge-kissing bull**** and the crocodile tears.

The same for players trying to court fans by declaring it’s their lifelong dream to play for whoever they join.

I never tried to fool anyone like that. The cold facts are that players will sign anywhere if it’s in the right league for the right money.

? How can we take FIFA seriously when their latest world rankings throw up the ridiculous notion that England are the fourth best team on the planet?

The same England who were battered by sixth-placed Italy and outplayed by 14th-ranked France at the Euros.

Then you cast your eye down the list and see Brazil outside the top 10 trailing behind Denmark. It does nothing to enhance Sepp Blatter (left) and Co’s reputation as unfit for purpose.?